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Nightmares from the Ultraplex
Legend of the Ultraplex is a 1995 Christmas horror anthology television film that aired on USA Network. It was directed by Elliot Strange, this being his third and final movie credit. The film reportedly aired only throughout December and soon faded into obscurity. It had a brief run on VHS through Fox Lorber Home Video. Plot The film centers on Thelma (Elizabeth Berkley), an employee at a retail store who's attempting to sell something to a couple who's doing last minute Christmas shopping. The items she's showing them have been acquired from previous owners, each with a grizzly tale behind them. If an Orphan Dies... Matilda Nelson is a cruel orphanage caretaker who squanders mayoral loans on poker games. Her negligence leads to the death of one of the orphans after she refuses to buy her warmer clothes to combat the cold weather The next day, Matilda discovers the kids playing around an oaktree. She is surprised to learn that they named it for Dee, the deceased child. The kids begin to wreak havoc and make Matilda’s misdeeds known to the mayor who fines her for reckless monetary management. The kids claim the tree put them up to it. Angered, Matilda cuts the tree down. At night, Matilda is horrified to find that the tree is back up. Worse yet, she is unable to find a way out of the house and is fatigued from hunger. Her food has rotted thanks to her fridge malfunctioning and she is forced to eat porridge she has the children eat. Returning to the kids, a new caretaker is present and we see that in the place of the tree is Matilda’s grave. Her fridge was repaired put up for sale at the Ultraplex. Toying the Odds Miles is a self-centered boy who does everything he could to prove he’s the best to his father, who rebuffs him frequently. He is aided by his cousin Frieda, who wants to encourage him to be more mIndful of others, but she goes ignored. Miles goes to play a soccer match and while playing, he refuses to pass the ball to his teammates, going as far as knocking them down even. Miles loses his friendship with Tony, but the former isn’t affected by it. Freida is upset with Miles, but after the latter’s father is sent out to work on Christmas, she decides to cheer him up while awakening his will to care for others. They wind up at a toy store, to Miles’ irritation since he claims to not care about toys. A life-sized go kart race occurs and Miles decides to enter it, to Freida’s dismay since she just wants to go for a causal ride. Miles struggles to get first place, paying no mind to a queasy Freida, and he gets first place. Freida leaves in a huff and Miles goes his own way. Miles retires to a camp display to vent, and upon finishing is surprised to find the store looks much bigger. He is greeted by a band of toys who recruit him to help in their endeavors. Not one to back down from a challenge, Miles accepts. His first task is recovering a woman's child from her violent boyfriend, where he has to get to the child while the others track down the boyfriend. Miles goes for the latter and upon returning to the child, he finds that it's suffering from complete shock. The toys opt to forgive him if he could prove himself in the next task, which is recovering a star on top of a giant Christmas tree. Miles immediately commandeers a biplane before the toys could inform him on what's inside of the star. Miles gets it and tosses it into the blades of the plane, where shards of their possessions come flying out. One of the toys blames Miles' recklessness on nepotism and opts to give him one last chance. The toys head out to recover a flag, where a wounded member of their party is found. Miles is ordered to tend to the man, but he prefers to get the flag. Miles gives the man a walkie talkie and heads up to claim the flag, where he sets off a number of traps injuring his teammates. To make things worse, the man dies after he was cornered and attacked. Miles is scolded and he flees the area, where he is confronted by visions of his father and cousin decrying him for his self-centered nature. Miles breaks down and claims nobody cares about him. Suddenly, the visuals brighten and we see Freida wandering around the store looking for Miles, where she comes across a doll modeled after him. The conclusion of the story is hinted to have been an allegory for a mental breakdown. A beaten up action figure in Miles' likeness is for sale. Hats Off Carrie despises her neighbor, Dr. Heckle a kindly magician who frequently visits her school for a post class show. She is envious of him because he owns a top hat she wanted to use as a decoration for her snowman. She recruits Doug, a fellow classmate and both attempt to steal the hat. In every attempt, they fail but Heckle lets them off easy. Carrie's parents learn of what she did and promptly punish her. Angered, Carrie sneakily sets out to create a smear campaign to get revenge. Of her plan, she convinces kids to not visit Heckle over fears of pedophilia, she convinces her principal to not let Heckle return to the school for further magic shows after framing him for theft and she sends him poison pen Christmas cards. These are enough to push Heckle over the edge and he hangs himself. Doug learns of her deed and after she takes the top hat, he demands she gives it back to atone for her misdeeds, but she's complicit and puts the hat on her snowman. At night, the snowman comes to life and begins stalking Carrie, though because he's stationary, she writes it off as paranoia. Doug has a number of nightmares about the snowman coming to life and she pleads to Carrie to return the hat, but she still refuses. Doug becomes more paranoid and arrogant and she believes Doug's pleas are a warning against him. She flees to the front door and is horrified to find the snowman is at her front door, bearing the same likeness as Heckle and bearing a hatchet. It cuts away as Heckle delivers the first swipe. The hat is for sale. Spin-Off In 1996, an animated spin-off was promised, with a pilot airing on USA Network in 1997. It was intended to be an anthology series that also provided insight to the personal life of Thelma, but the network ultimately declined due to them feeling the show didn't fit their lineup.